A sort of oblique addtion to the “yes you can” comments:
My wife (she’ll be 50 this summer) has for the 30+ years I’ve known her, has never been able to carry a tune singing - until recently. What happened is her Celtic harp. Learning (and loving) the harp has so tuned up her musical hearing that she now knows when things are in tune and when they’re not faster than the little electronic box one uses to tune strings with does, and she can now carry a tune with her voice, unaccompanied. It can be done.
This a ‘flat earth’ assertion. All of the low-end whistles (Feadog, oak, generation, etc) suffer from appalling quality control. I haven’t bought a whistle in ten or so years, but when I went through my WhOA phase, I’d insist on tooting every one available. Inevitably, there would be more duds than players.
the best in each batch would sound wonderful, and the worst would give off a horrid screeching noise no matter what I did
That sounds like a bit of a conundrum for a beginner. What would I have to buy to be sure that if a bad sound emerges I am the squawker instead of the "squawkee?.
Forgive me for asking, I am sure that there msut be countless threads buried here that discuss just this topic.
Tango Papa----I have never figured out how a beginner could tell if a whistle was bad or if the playing was bad or both either. I got bad sounds from my whistles at first and they sound much better now since I can play them a little better. I think that they did sound better in a couple of weeks, although it took me longer than that to get the high notes at all. Is it possible that your piper son who took to the whistle could check one out for you or let you borrow back the one you gave him? Otherwise, I think you just have to get one and practice on it. You will start observing when you can improve the sound you are getting and when you can’t. At first you can’t really even get the holes covered, at least I couldn’t, so it is going to be squawking. Then you will swear they are covered and they aren’t quite, and it will squawk. Until you can reliably cover those holes, I don’t see how you can judge a whistle. Just get one and get started I think. I’m no expert, so this might be bad advice.
My main advice is to just stick with one tutorial and instructional CD for awhile. There are so many ways of doing things, so many opinions, that it can get a little overwhelming if you investigate too much. You can spend more time trying to find out the “right” way to do something than practicing. Constantly remind yourself to relax. It is easy to tense up when you are doing something new and not be aware of it. Playing in a tensed up state could make it hard to play fast (a long time from now—not that far myself at all) and could cause physical problems with your hands and wrists to develop. Cover the holes only to the extent they need to be covered (in terms of pressing down) to make the right sound. If the sound isn’t good, re-position your fingers, don’t press harder. Don’t squeeze the whistle.
And then listen to CD’s-----whatever sort of music you are wanting to play (Irish, Scottish, etc.) listen to good musicians playing that kind of music. You will be needing to listen to a good version of the tunes you play when you get to the point of playing them----learning a tune you don’t know from notes alone doesn’t work out very well, the tune just won’t sound right. I would say get any tune you want to learn into your head first by listening before you try to play it on the whistle. It is hard to play something if you don’t know where you are going. I haven’t found that the CD’s I feel are good are available in small towns—I like very traditional Irish music—but I’ve had great success ordering them on the Internet.
You don’t know if you don’t try. I’m 57. I don’t feel my age is a factor at all. Obviously I would not be able to reach the level of some genius who started at the age of 10 (but then, I wouldn’t be reaching that level even given all the time in the world ) but that isn’t the point. The point is to see if you can make some music----it doesn’t have to be complicated and fast----and to see if you enjoy doing it. Consistent practicing is the main thing. It’s no big deal, just do a little every day whether you feel like it or not and be patient.
How bad is your tin ear? Seriously, there is some urls I could look up for you that you can use to test your hearing. I have a good ear, but my daughter can only tell notes within a semitone or more. This makes it hard for her to sing but I don’t see why she could not learn the tin whistle. I have been teaching her a bit but she is not a fanatic about it like me I might suggest you stay away from trombone, or a fretless instrument but I see no reason you wouldn’t be able to play an instrument where the notes are already set out for you no matter how bad your ear is.
Even if the only person who enjoys your playing is you, I would still say go for it!!!
Cheap, easy player, very well behaved, decent voice.
Get a Jerry Freeman tweaked Sweetone.
If it’s squawkin’ - it’s most likely pilot error.
Expensive, easy players, very well behaved, nice voice.
Hudson Wind
Burke
The step between “holy cow! i can manage this whistle” and dumping between $150 and $200 into a whistle should be filled with a Freeman Tweaked Generation Bb.
Now if you asked me what I play now: Overton, Reyburn, Hudson Wind.
Seriously, when I listen to two people sing and they are “off” I can probably hear that. If a guitar is out of tune, I probably wouldn’t know it. When I sing I can’t tell. I’ll be wailing away in the car to a favourite song and my daughter will be looking sideways at me with growing horror.
I will start tomorrow. Tonight if dinner company leave early enough. With whatever whistle is sitting in the next room.
Thank you everyone. Some suggestions of artists to listen would still help. Nobody I know closely shares my interest in this music. If someone could say “so and so on such and such a CD is a good example of Scottish or Irish style blah blah blah” or point me to such a thread, that would be awesome.
well, yeah, i believed him at the time. he was someone that everyone still says knows most of the answers, and i didn’t know anything about whistles at the time - i had just learned the prior week that they were called whistles for crying out loud! all i knew was that i had always liked the way they sounded in irish music. that’s how uninformed i was on the subject. as most of us do when we want to understand something, i contacted the expert. i had no reason to believe that he was probably looking at me as some annoying newbie and giving me the brush-off. if the man-with-the-answers said that it’s rare to find a bad cheappie, then who the heck was i to say otherwise? right??? since that time, i joined this forum and i am now a little more knowledgeable on the subjects of whistles and itm.
i guess what suprises me is your apparent disbelief that someone as uninformed as i was would be so gullible as to believe someone that everyone goes to for answers, and then swears by those answers. pick a topic, any topic that you know absolutely nothing about. zip. nadda. not a thing. quantum mechanics, micro biology, neurophysics, mandarin script. any topic. then imagine yourself asking a question about that topic to someone that many in that profession turn to for answers. if that expert tells you that something in answer to your question is extremely rare, do you (in your own words) “swallow that whopper?”
i’m not trying to pick a fight with you. i’m just trying to get you to understand that there is a reason for most things - even when they may sound preposterous to us. i will admit that in the back of my mind i felt all along that it was the whistle and not me. waltons were the only whistle being sold near where i lived and internet shopping was something i had never thought of at that time. today, i am happy to say, things are different.
Yes,Tango Papa go for it and enjoy playing. I started learning the whistle a few months ago at 53. I taught myself in no time to read music with reading books. There are books/cd’s available to help you play and get started like -
Clarke -Tin Whistle by Bill Ochs + 1CD
Irish Pennywhistle by Cathal McConnell + 3 CD
Complete Irish Tin Whistle book by Mizzy McCaskill & Dona Gilliam + 1 CD
Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox by Grey Larsen + 1CD
The Low Whistle Book by Steafan Hannigan & David Ledsam + 1CD
Best and happy playing
Calum
Tango- I started with the whistle in the fall of 2004. The first few months were pretty awful and then one day I listened and it was better… and better. Now I have a ball every time I pick up a whistle. I won’t ever give any concerts but I sure do have fun playing. That’s really what it’s all about. I even enjoy my frequent relapses into WHOA. Keep at it… I assure if I can do it you can. In June I will be 77 years old. Bill T.
Hey guys, I just looked at my profile. It seems I started playing in the fall of 2003. Well, so much for my 77 year old memory! Got go now … got some tunes to play on the whistle!
One more suggestion. Tunes are a lot easier to play once you have them firmly in your head, so try playing some tunes that you already know well enough to hum. TV theme songs (Gilligan’s Island works well), jingles from commercials, folksongs, Christmas carols. You may have to try starting them on different notes of the whistle to get them to work. I’ll bet you find out that your ear is not as bad as you thought it was!
As far as whistles for a beginner are concerned, I believe you will be absolutely fine starting with a Sweetone or a Feadog or Generation. They are cheap and easy to find. I have had many of each and, provided you are buying current models (rather than old ones from ebay), the quality is very consistent indeed. Just check the plastic mouthpieces for obvious problems like bits of loose plastic swarf blocking the windway, and you’ll be great.
Sweetones are very easy for beginners, and are harder to squawk than the others, but ultimately Feadogs or Generations (and Oak, and Walton etc etc etc) will make a better player of you, simply because a squawk very often just means you have a bit more to learn about breath control.
Definitely go for it. Whistles are great fun and totally portable. What is more you can get a good quality instrument for just a few pounds/dollars/whatever. I wish I could say that about mandolins…
My apologies, Tyrone. I was startled by the claim and not your acceptance of it. I had no intention of mocking you. Although clumsily phrased, my actual thought was more on the order of “it’s exasperating that someone knowlegeable would try to sell this whopper to a newbie..”
I apologise again for the insult.
~~
I think the truth is that you it doesn’t really matter which whistle you begin on; (cheap) whistles are cheap enough that nearly everyone I know who can bash a tune out of one goes through a phase of obsessive whistle acquisition, in which you try to find (and buy) one of everything on the market. It’s in this phase that you’ll discover that you are able to tell a good whistle from a dud.
Very few whistles are genuinely unplayable–the difference is more one of harsh vs clear tone. If you’re really worried, find someone who can play whistle and ask them to give yours a toot (most will be only too happy). If they get a reasonable sound, then that whistle is one you can have confidence in.
In the beginning, you’re still sorting out how to blow the octaves and indeed, how to blow each note for best tone. Don’t think too much about this; let your ear-diaphragm-fingers work out their own arrangements, which they will. Once you 've got that sorted, you’ll be able to tell a good whistle from a less good one with ease. It won’t take long.
On an irresistible impulse I ordered a Jerry Freeman tweaked Sweetone today. For $15 I can at least temporarily eliminate the doubt “is that me or the whistle?” to some extent. And I will have two to compare. I think any edge helps when you are learning a new skill and if the tool is more accommodating you can focus on something else, but I get your point about being able to handle different whistles as time goes on.
either. I got bad sounds from my whistles at first and they sound much better now since I can play them a little better. I think that they did sound better in a couple of weeks, although it took me longer than that to get the high notes at all. Is it possible that your piper son who took to the whistle could check one out for you or let you borrow back the one you gave him? Otherwise, I think you just have to get one and practice on it. You will start observing when you can improve the sound you are getting and when you can’t. At first you can’t really even get the holes covered, at least I couldn’t, so it is going to be squawking. Then you will swear they are covered and they aren’t quite, and it will squawk. Until you can reliably cover those holes, I don’t see how you can judge a whistle. Just get one and get started I think. I’m no expert, so this might be bad advice.
) but that isn’t the point. The point is to see if you can make some music----it doesn’t have to be complicated and fast----and to see if you enjoy doing it. Consistent practicing is the main thing. It’s no big deal, just do a little every day whether you feel like it or not and be patient.
I might suggest you stay away from trombone, or a fretless instrument but I see no reason you wouldn’t be able to play an instrument where the notes are already set out for you no matter how bad your ear is.